The concept of “freedom” is not talked about much in relation to musical art. It is a concept that is hard to define, but when it is experienced despite a lack of vocabulary to define it, it is still known. The word “freedom” is thrown around a lot in the United States when it comes to how people perceive our social, economic, and governmental structure. Given the realities of society, money, capitalism, and republic, real “freedom” is not created by or even nurtured by these things. Money, and our need for it, can be a great hindrance to freedom (as many economically poor people know too well). If we are lucky, we are bound to obligations to create income for ourselves, hopefully lawfully, and if we are unlucky we find little to no opportunity for adequate income for basic necessity. Either choice is bad or worse for most people, and either choice most often stifles any “freedom” one might know. People need food, clothing, shelter, and usually healthcare to live. The necessity and reliance on such things, given a limited and feeble human body, actually forces many of us into some level of servitude rather than “freedom.” Materialism is encouraged in the United States, not by everyone, but by those groups of people called “companies” or “organizations” who desire to acquire money from those they call “consumers” or “clients.” Many objects in life can be good and some objects and bring some happiness to an individual or group, but acquisition of objects for the sake of acquiring them often creates the opposite of freedom in our lives. “Freedom” is not necessarily experienced due to isolation or separation from other people or society. A healthy “freedom,” depending on how you define it, is not separation from people. But, our dependency on income can quell a sense of “freedom” and cause conflict with others.

All of this said, my intention is not to speak of political or economic things. I do not intend to dwell on the brokenness of any humanly created social system. Instead, I intend to share an experience of “freedom” or a realization of “freedom” can occur through music.

When I first heard the debut self-titled Fleet Foxes album, back in 2008, about when it was released, I could tell it was an instant classic. It is rare when an album strikes one as a classic even when it is completely new. Normally, it takes many years of time for one to be able to look back and label an album as “classic.” But, just as with the first time I heard OK, Computer in 1997, I knew Self-Title, and the companion EP Sun Giant, by Fleet Foxes was a timeless work of art.

It is a musical journey through the woods, by streams of bubbling water, and into the soul. Some might say it could have come off as pretentious, but Fleet Foxes pull it off because it is such a beautiful and perfect composition. When I listen to Self-Title I smell and see Cades Cove, I feel the cool air of the Smoky Mountain woods, I sense the timelessness of being alive and a “freedom” from the oppressive systems forced upon our lives from necessity. Sometimes the album feels like a fairy tale world conveyed through sound, and other times it feels like open meadows in the valley of the Tennessee mountains. In and through this music I feel a “freedom,” and I know this “freedom” is good. I might be stuck in an office, mindlessly pushing digital information to make money for an organization, by my heart sings to me and says, “you are alive, and the true nature of life is much more than the daily bondage you experience.” This is spiritual music.

This is also very melodic and carefully crafted music. Every melody is original and classic at the same time. The pop hooks are prevalent, yet at the same time Fleet Foxes sound more like the progressive rock days of Genesis than almost any other band. This is not despite Fleet Foxes incorporation of vocal harmony and folk music stylings. Genesis too did have some British folk influences in their compositions from the early 70s. Fleet Foxes, like some progressive rock, does not always follow a basic and usual pop song format. Instead, they find ways of cleverly putting together different “movements” and parts to form their songs in mostly unconventional ways. Their music is beautiful, catchy, powerful, wistful, organic, earthy, and spiritual. There are moments of sadness that feel one’s heart with longing, there are moments that give one goosebumps, and there are moments of transcendence.

I have to confess that I was greatly disappointed with the second Fleet Foxes album Helpless Blues. Sorry if you like the album, but to me it seemed whiney and uninspired with little direction and weak songs. Maybe I just do not get that one yet. But, the new Fleet Foxes album, Crack-Up, which is their 3rd album, too me, finally feels like a proper follow up to the first album. Crack-Up is lush and full of magic, like the first album. But, unlike the first album we get a sense not of mountains, fields, forest, but instead seascapes, the vast ocean, the endless sky, and the waves breaking against the rocks on the shore. Though it might not be quite as melodically strong as Self-Title, it is musically more ambitious. It is thoughtful, challenging, beautiful, and again spiritual. It brushes up against progressive rock a little more than their previous material, but it also sounds more in sync with our time. The is art, and it has been carefully crafted. Each part has been meticulously and intentionally created purposely. Lyrically, it is also more mature than their previous work. Fleet Foxes have gone back to writing poetry (Helpless Blues , the second album, having been an interlude to poetic allusion), but the poetry of Crack-Up seems more meaningful than that of their first album. The album holds together like one piece of music, and throughout it coveys the human spiritual journey, like a voyage across oceans, as a search meaning and the shrouded shores of who and what we were made to be. In some ways Crack-Up is more serious, and feels a little darker than previous material, but then Fleet Foxes have always been able to pull off serious music that conveys a sense of longing.

Maybe it could be said that with Crack-Up Fleet Foxes are searching for “freedom.” Instead of the music providing the fleeting feeling of freedom, it communicates the feeling of the contemplation of possible “freedom.” Through this record, we can experience with them the human experience of waiting and searching for one who gives peace, meaning, and freedom that the world, as it is, cannot give. We are all waiting for Him, in the already but not-yet age, turning our boat in His direction in a sea of what seems like chaos and meaninglessness. We are looking through the fog hoping to see the light of His beacon. Though it is often us who attempt to force Him to show up when and how we want, instead of allowing Him to come to us as He chooses. As the lyric fromCrack-Up says, “the tighter the fist, the looser the sale, so don’t resist.” The wind blows where it wants and it can be trusted. The yolk is light and the burden easy, so cease striving and know that He is with you.

There is a story of a man who was unjustly put to death, but He being not just a man but also God defeated Death and achieved complete freedom from bondage of the brokenness of our dark world. And this man said that because He rose from the dead, we will also rise to be like Him and with Him.